Review: Austin’s Best New Pizzerias – Food

We’re really walking the third rail here, daring to engage in Pizza Discourse. For such a simple dish – baked dough topped with sauce, cheese, meat and vegetables – people have strong and polarized opinions about what makes a good pie. Probably the stasis point in the great pizza debate is style. There’s New York style, New Jersey style, Chicago, Detroit, New Haven, Neapolitan, Sicilian…the list goes on. This cacophony of voices and accents in the pizza space, with a dipping cup of globalization to the side, means new pizzerias have popped up in recent years like mushrooms after a good spring rain.

Austin has many beloved pizza places that we hereby award Emeritus status: Home Slice, East Side Pies, Bufalina, Pinthouse Pizza, Via 313, Conans, Mangia, Little Deli. These folks have earned their stripes over the years by consistently serving high quality pizzas in their respective styles. But there are also plenty of up-and-coming youngsters in Austin’s pizza scene, tossing dough from food trucks to suburban malls, who are definitely worth a look. We’ve collected them here as a guide you can use to educate yourself and expand your pizza horizons.

Roman pizza Baldinucci

3300 Bee Cave Road. #110, 512/382-1166
baldinucci.pizzaBaldinucci made the transition from the ghost kitchen to brick-and-mortar West Lake in October 2022, and social media was ablaze with rave reviews. The house specialty here is Roman pizza (the restaurant’s name might have warned you), with thick squares of buttery dough topped with a sweet marinara and gooey cheese, and just about the mounds of most generous toppings I’ve seen on a pie. Here is a slab with a mound of four mushrooms; and my gods, would you look at the full serving of broccoli on that Bianco Florentine? The family really loved the good old-fashioned pepperoni, which we ordered as a full platter. The pepperoni, cut and crispy, is plentiful, the cheese is gooey and creamy, and the crust is buttery without being oily or greasy. Baldinucci also offers vegan Roman-style pizzas with plant-based cheese and generous portions of vegetables, as well as New York-style pizzas in daring variations like lasagna and Buffalo chicken. Top it all off with a cup of peanut butter and jelly ice cream and you have the perfect Roman vacation without leaving the city limits. – Melanie Main

Dovetail pizza

1816 S. First, 512/522-1375
dovetailpizza.comWe can hardly believe the star power behind this new pizzeria (2022) rocking pies in the heart of the Bouldin Creek neighborhood. Working a hybrid of New York and Neapolitan styles, Dovetail Pizza is a culinary collaboration between the wizards of Present Tense Hospitality (Salt & Time, Rosen’s Bagels), Todd Duplechan of Lenoir and Vixen’s Wedding, and Alex Manley of Swedish Hill (who has developed the signature slow-fermented dough place). The mighty maestri and his crew prepare all kinds of meats and vegetables to sing hallelujah over generous pies and serve them (along with an array of unique appetizers, salads and pasta dishes) with chili condiment options crispy and herbal vinegar instead of the same ol’ the same red flakes and Parmesan cheese, bringing a family-friendly goodness that shades with more grown-up pleasures when the night is deep and the full bar crescendos with cocktails for perfect pizza pairings . We tried the special meatball pizza during our visit, with meatballs concocted by Salt & Time sprinkled with little rosettes of ricotta. Delicious!– Wayne Alan Brenner

Sammataro’s pizza

1108 E. 12th, 512/690-1547; 900 W. 10th
sammataro.loveWhat started as a New York-style pizza pop-up in West Lake at the end of 2020 is now an Eastside food truck and a brick-and-mortar West End, having moved into space vacated by another pizzeria , 40 North, Jan 2023 Walk to the Arbor Food Park Truck on the 12th and enjoy some BYOBrewskis while waiting for a fresh wood fired pepperoni pizza with these tiny ronis cup ‘n’ char’. The cheese is zesty, the pepperoni spicy, and the crust is perfectly chewy. The restaurant offers an extensive menu including pasta, meatballs and daily pizza specials, as well as beer and wine. It really is a great pizza, but the price is a bit higher, reaching $30 for a 16 inch pie with a topping.– MH

Pedroso’s pizza

8315 Burnet Road, 737/600-1107
pedrosos-pizza.square.siteName a pizzeria hipper in this city than Pedroso. You can’t, because all of Austin’s food fluencers rave about this little food truck outside the Night Owl bar on Burnet Road to the skies. The main attraction here is the grandma’s style, which is a rectangular pie with a thick crust reminiscent of focaccia and cheese sauce. Here we love the Double Pepp N’ Peppers, topped with a generous helping of cup ‘n’ char pepperoni and a double whammy of serrano and banana peppers. It hurts so much! Others swear by the New York style, available both sliced ​​and full pie. Do not skip the caprese salad under any circumstances. You just have to start your meal with this tasty and elegantly executed salad of sliced ​​mozzarella and tomatoes, with a deliciously umami balsamic reduction. – MH

Love Supreme Pizza Bar

2805 Manor Road, 512/296-2655
lovesupremepizzabar.comRyan McElroy, who launched Thunderbird Coffee in 2006 and Bird Bird Biscuit (with Brian Batch) in 2018, decided to team up with his brother Wade and chef Russell Victorioso and open a pizzeria on Manor Road in 2021. This is not just any pizzeria, but. It’s a neighborhood spot, always welcoming with plush cabanas and a covered patio and outdoor bar, that’s so stylish and laid-back it’d make Instagram cry. It’s a destination that offers New York/Neapolitan pizzas — the dough flour here sourced from Barton Springs Mill — and several rich variations (as well as salads, award-winning chicken wings, and those marinara meatballs). We can recommend the margherita, which is both minimalistic and sumptuous, the outer crust puffy but concealing a chewy, chewy interior. Among the beverage selection is a range of natural wines curated by General Manager Paulina Cline. –WAB

Side-Eyed Pie

3901 Promontory Point, 737/270-5794
sideeyepie.comLongtime pizza explorer Tony Curet started in Austin with the Neapolitan-bending Dough Boys pizza in June 2020, eventually selling his products (in partnership with Max Tilka) from a dedicated food truck in the batch of Meanwhile Brewing Co. Now the talented Chef Curet has gone solo with his new venture, Side Eye Pies, on this same site adjacent to the brewery, basing its beauties on a freshly-brewed, small-batch cold-fermented dough. made with Texas red wheat flour and indigenous yeast from Barton Springs Mills. He loads these pies with homemade organic sauces, homemade shredded cheese, slow food-approved organic meats — sourcing the bases from Hi-Fi Mycology, Iron Ox Farms, and other local farms — and bakes them in a wood-fired oven until piping hot and crispy and just what you’re looking for when it comes to classics, culinary experimentals and even a vegan pie. (Bonus: Their secret weapon for brunch, a sweet dish – the Texas Skillet Pancake topped with homemade vanilla whipped cream, fresh fruit compote and maple syrup – is not to be missed.) –WAB